GREENLAND HALIBUT
Reinhardtius hippoglossoides

Advice 2024/2025

17 980

tonnes

Advice 2023/2024

19 703

tonnes

Advice change

-9 %

Publication of Advice: 7 June 2024. Published by Marine and Freshwater Research Institute.


Advice

MFRI and ICES advise that when the MSY approach is applied, catches in the 2024/2025 fishing year in the East Greenland/ Iceland/Faroe Islands area should be no more than 17 980 tonnes.

Stock development

Fishing pressure is above FMSY and below Fpa and Flim; spawning stock size is below MSY Btrigger and Bpa but above Blim.

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 Thous. tonnes F a r o e s G r e e n l a n d I c e l a n d O t h e r a r e a s Catches 0 50 100 150 1986 1991 1996 2001 2006 2011 2016 2021 Millions R e c r u i t m e n t ( a g e 5 ) F p a F l i m F M S Y 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 F ( a g e s 9 − 14 ) Fishing mortality B p a B l i m 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 1986 1991 1996 2001 2006 2011 2016 2021 Thous. tonnes SSB

Greenland halibut. Catch by areas, recruitment (age 5), fishing mortality (ages 9–14), and spawning stock biomass (SSB). Shaded areas and error bars show 95% confidence intervals.

Basis of the assessment and reference points

Prospects

Greenland halibut.* *Assumptions made for the interim year and in the forecast.

Greenland halibut. Projection of reference biomass and SSB (tonnes) based on the MSY approach.

The advised catch for 2025 has decreased due to an increase in fishing mortality that has lowered SSB to below MSY Btrigger.

Quality of the assessment

In 2024 an error was discovered affecting the estimates of spawning stock biomass resulting in an upward revision of the entire SSB history. It was therefore necessary to recalculate reference points. The revised Blim and Bpa were estimated higher than previously, while Fmsy was estimated to be lower.

Connectivity to the adjacent Greenland halibut stocks (Northeast Arctic stocks in ICES SA1+2 and NAFO SA 0+1) is known but unquantified (Albert and Vollen, 2015; Westgaard et al., 2017; Vihtakari et al., 2022). The current assessment may therefore represent trends from more than one population. This issue adds to the uncertainty in the assessment.

F M S Y F p a F l i m B l i m B p a F i s h i n g m o r t a l i t y R e c r u i t m e n t S S B 2012 2016 2020 2024 2012 2016 2020 2024 2012 2016 2020 2024 0 10000 20000 30000 0 10000 20000 30000 40000 50000 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5

Greenland halibut. Current assessment (red line) compared with the 2023 estimate.

Other information

Greenland halibut is a relatively slow-growing and late-maturing species. Low recruitment in the period 2012 to 2021 along with sustained catch levels close to Fpa has caused the SSB to slowly decrease to below MSY Btrigger in 2023. However, increased recruitment since 2022 based on survey observations may increase the fishable biomass from around 2026 onwards.

ICES notes that there is no agreement between coastal states on catch allocation; while most of the catch is taken in Division 5a and Subarea 14, a proportion of the catch comes from fisheries outside the areas managed with TACs. An agreement exists between Iceland and Greenland, allocating 56.4% and 37.6% of the adviced catch each of the nations respectively.

Advice, TAC and catch

Greenland halibut. Recommended TAC to East Greenland / Iceland / Faroes, national TAC, and catches (tonnes).Note that catch in Icelandic waters is by fishing year whereas catch in other areas and total catch is by calendar year.

References and further reading

Albert, O. T., and Vollen, T. 2015. A major nursery area around the Svalbard archipelago provides recruits for the stocks in both Greenland halibut management areas in the Northeast Atlantic. ICES Journal of Marine Science, 72: 872–879. https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsu191.

ICES. 2023a. Benchmark workshop on Greenland halibut and redfish stocks (WKBNORTH). ICES Scientific Reports. 5:33. https://doi.org/10.17895/ices.pub.22304638.

Vihtakari, M, Elvarsson, B., Treble, M, Nogueira, M., Hedges, K., Hussey, N.E., Wheeland, L., Roy, D., Ofstad, L.H., Hallfredsson, E.H., Barkley, A., Estévez-Barcia, D., Nygaard, R., Healey, B., Steingrund, P., Johansen, T., Albert, O-T., and Boje, J. 2022. Migration patterns of Greenland halibut in the North Atlantic revealed by a compiled mark-recapture dataset. ICES Journal of Marine Science, 79: 1902-1917.

Westgaard, J. I., Saha, A., Kent, M., Hansen, H. H., Knutsen, H., Hauser, L., Cadrin, S. X., et al. 2017. Genetic population structure in Greenland halibut (Reinhardtius hippoglossoides) and its relevance to fishery management. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, 74: 475–485. https://doi.org/10.1139/cjfas-2015-0430.

MFRI Assessment Reports 2024. Greenland halibut. Marine and Freshwater Research Institute, 7 June 2024.